MAU Moʻolelo Blog

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Dear traveling companions of the ala ʻūlili, oh lāhui Kanaka, from one corner to the other corner of this ʻāina, great aloha to you all. As we are now commemorating the Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (the day that sovereignty was returned) of our beloved Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, it is absolutely necessary that we look to the source of the meaning of this thing called "ea." In the year 1871, Davida K. Kahalemaile gave a speech about Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, and fivefold were his thoughts about ea. According to him, "1. The ea of fish is water. 2. The ea of people is the wind (air). 3. The ea of the earth is people, other than the two things that give life: life from the water, life from the ʻāina. 4. The ea of a boat is the rudder. The rudder of a person which pilots their thoughts, is the spirit. 5. The ea of these Hawaiian islands, that for which this day we speak of and celebrate, is our continued existence as an independent nation. And the nature of the word aupuni, refers to the unification of the chiefs and the common people to think of and enact a set of laws for themselves. This unification is called an Aupuni." Therefore, oh lāhui Kanaka, as we call out the famous words that Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) spoke at the very first Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea in 1843, "Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono," we should remember these thoughts regarding the true source of ea. Ea is a source of life, and it is a foundation for the pono of the ʻāina and the people. And as we, oh traveling companions of the steep trails, are following in the path of the famous aliʻi for whom this moʻolelo was written, we must thoroughly look at his work to establish the ea of our Hawaiian Islands, as he united with the common people to devise and solidify the laws and the necessities of well-being for our beloved homelands.

Chapter 4. (Contʻd)

When everyone had gone to the uplands with Kaleiokū, the bright light of day emerged, and ʻUmi was left with his wahine. The sun rose and brought warmth. It was perhaps 8 o'clock in the morning, on the sixth night [of their journey from Waipiʻo] that those two old men arrived at the place of Kaleiokū and his aliʻi, ʻUmi.

When the old men arrived, the houses of Kaleiokū and the others were silent. Not one person passed by them outside. The old men called out, "The houses of Kaleiokū are silent. Not one person passes by." ʻUmi heard this voice outside, while sitting inside the hale o mua (men's eating house). It was a common thing for the kahuna of the old times to only visit at the hale o mua, not at the sleeping house.

ʻUmi called out to those old men, "Come, you two, inside here. There is no one else here. Kaleiokū and all the others have gone into the uplands to farm. I am the only one who remains. I have been placed here to attend to you both upon your arrival." The two old men then entered the hale o mua.

ʻUmi then went outside and grabbed the bundle of firewood that had been prepared. It was lifted and held high up, then thrown down on to the ground. The firewood was broken into small pieces. The fire was lit, and it burned well, because of all the tinder and kindling that had been prepared beforehand. The smoke was huge, and no firewood remained. It all disappeared right before the old men's eyes.

ʻUmi then grabbed the pig, and the pig squealed, so he released it, for it was not dead. Where it would concealed by the smoke, that is where the pig was released. When all the kindling and tinder had burned, this is what was cooked in the imu: just the ti leaf covering. He then fetched the ʻawa root, pulling it out and separating it. The old men then proclaimed to each other, "If this here is how the hānai of Kaleiokū is, the bones will live, indeed, by this strong man!" Because they had seen the bundle of firewood broken into small pieces, the quickness with which the pig was kālua, and the uprooting of the ʻawa. That is the reason for their praising him as a strong man.

When ʻUmi had pulled up the ʻawa, he returned to the other side of the house in which they were sitting, (that is, the hale o mua.) ʻUmi went to work, breaking the ʻawa into small pieces, setting up the kānoa, and placing the ʻawa that had previously been softened by chewing inside of the kānoa. ʻUmi then fetched the pig that had already been kālua at a place nearby the imu in which he had placed no pig to kālua. ʻUmi uncovered it and brought it before those two old men. The pig was cooked very well.

While he was uncovering the imu with the pig in it, Nunu, one of the old men, said to Kamai [Kakohe perhaps], "Wow! How quick the pig was cooked! Was it actually kālua?" Kamai nodded in agreement; but when it arrived before their own eyes, the pig was indeed cooked very well.

ʻUmi prepared the pig, and placed it on a platter. ʻUmi then fetched the ʻawa and poured it into two ʻapu (coconut shell cups). ʻUmi gave them to the old men, and they drank. The two of them feasted until they were dizzy from the ʻawa. One of them laid down against the wall, and the other laid down on a mat so ʻUmi lifted the old man and laid him down on the mat as well.

ʻUmi then ascended into the uplands, to where Kaleiokū and the others were farming with the people. When Kaleiokū was found farming with their people, Kaleiokū asked of ʻUmi, "Have those old men arrived?" ʻUmi nodded. "Yes, they have arrived. The things you taught me to prepare for their arrival, that is, the food. I prepared it all until it was complete. Those old men became dizzy from the ʻawa, and are now sleeping."

Kaleiokū spoke to ʻUmi, "Let us stay here with your people, and when the sun begins the descend, we shall return. That is how we shall return. I will be the first of the people, and you, the Aliʻi, shall be the very last." And so it was, agreeable, in the eyes of ʻUmi.

The reason why Kaleiokū chose to have the people of the aliʻi return together in a line, is because when they would arrive in front of the old men, they would speak with the first person they encountered. Because the old men would inquire to Kaleiokū about ʻUmi, and Kaleiokū would be the one to explain to them that they had been mistaken about this man. That man was ʻUmi. Because Kaleiokū was familiar to their eyes. They had not seen ʻUmi before, and would be in the dark of night when he returned from the uplands. That is what would bring the Island of Hawaiʻi under the control of ʻUmi. Their shame.

When ʻUmi was ascending towards the uplands to look for Kaleiokū and the others, the old men were sleeping. Soon after, the second of the old men woke up, and the two conversed with each other. They said to each other, "This is not how our chiefs treated us in their reigns. During the time of Līloa, until he passed on, and during that of Hakau his child, food, fish and kapa were the things we received. Ours was but a small filthy house. This, however, is the best that we have ever seen. From the days of our handsome youth until this time of our old age, only now have we received these gifts of goodness. In our days of better health, we had none of this."

As the sun descended, perhaps at about 2 o'clock, the descent of the journey began. Kaleiokū was the first as they descended. When the old men saw their descent, because there were so many people before their eyes, they could not see the last of the people descending as they emerged from within the tall trees of the forest of that ʻāina, which was spoken of in Chapter 2 of this moʻolelo (Waipunalei, in Hilo Palikū.)

When Kaleiokū arrived in the presence of those old men, they expressed aloha for each other. It was the first time they were meeting again, and they had a great amount of aloha for each other. When the people returned to their houses, close to the house where they were staying, (that is, the hale o mua). These were just the tall people who had arrived at the village. Kaleiokū had divided their people into four groups: the biggest people, the people just under them, the small people, and the children.

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